We went kayaking in Moss Landing today with our friends, the Stockmans. It was my and David’s first time, but the kids have done a simpler version at YMCA summer camp. The weather was perfect and so was the water. At first Natalie and I shared a kayak, but she later switched to be with her friend Lily, which was better for me because Lily’s mom was much better at steering and rowing, which meant less work for me. We saw all sorts of sea life and birds including sea otters, sea lions, jelly fish, pelicans, and seagulls.

Tyler relaxed all too often, leaving David to do most of the work!
  

Jellyfish! First time I’ve ever seen these not in an aquarium.

A new school year kicked off today. Natalie is starting 6th grade at middle school and Tyler is starting 4th grade. I have been really nervous about Natalie going to middle school but she has been very excited.

After getting use to late and lazy mornings, the kids did a good job waking up early and getting ready for school today. Both were excited to start school. Our old neighbor, Monique, is also attending the same middle school this year so she came over to walk to school with Nat. Tyler was excited to go to school because he was happy with the teacher that he was assigned (Miss Bentson). Apparently she’s the nicest 4th grade teacher there, and all the kids want her. Tyler’s good friend Jason is also in his class which is a bonus.

After school, Nat could not stop talking about how great middle school was. She had a lot to share about her friends, her classes, who she saw, what was fun, changing class rooms, her teachers, etc etc. I’m a bit relieved after hearing how great her first day was. Hopefully it stays this way.

Ever since Uncle Chubber moved back to San Jose, Tyler’s been asking if he could come over almost every day. Tyler has named Uncle Chubs his favorite uncle (sorry to other Uncles reading this).

Uncle Chubber started his rotation as a pharmacist at Target. Last week, he worked at the one by our house so we paid him a visit.
  

The other day, Uncle Chubber and Wileen came over for a visit. Tyler got so excited when he opened the door. He had to quickly make up his excitement for Wileen too. 🙂

Every other year or so Popo has this big party with all her old school friends from Burma. There’s always a variety of dancing and singing along with dinner. This year, she asked Natalie if she would be interested in joining and to my surprise, Nat said yes. Nat also managed to recruit Tyler, Kaiya, and Sienna. The girls were excited to wear their minority dresses. Natalie’s and Tyler’s outfits were purchased and Kaiya and Sienna’s were made by Popo.

We were able to catch a belated birthday celebration for Grandpa this past weekend with the Kha family in LA. We feasted on a yummy dinner from Boston Lobster (great lobster noodles!) and then had a nice cake. Happy birthday, Grandpa!

The grandkids flanked Grandpa for pictures. Little Melanie is missing because dinner ran late and she got cranky and needed to go to bed.
   

Natalie is almost the same height as Grace (who is 4 years older!)
 

Summer in Merced is very hot! We went for a visit this past Saturday and it was close to 100 degrees. The drought is very apparent in the central valley. Uncle Ted was telling us how their well is almost dried up too. Hopefully El Nino really kicks in this year.

We spent the afternoon at Uncle Ted’s neighbor’s house. They just installed a pool and were hosting a pool party. It was a very nice pool and there was a slide too! The kids had a nice time swimming, especially since it was so hot.

Hanging with Tai Po
  
Natalie and Emma hanging out in the pool